Much uproar has been unleashed across the nation after a bystander’s video was released that showed a Staten Island man dying after being taken down and placed in a chokehold by officers with the New York Police Department. The fatal incident occurred near Victory Blvd. on Bay Street in front of the Bay Beauty Supply.
The man’s 18-year-old son recently said that he wants the policeman who allegedly caused his father’s death to be jailed. He made this statement while grieving, only hours after his father’s unnecessary death. Police allegedly suspected him of the relatively minor crime of selling individual cigarettes without taxes.
“I want to ask the man that did it, ‘What made you choke him like that?'” his son said. “What made him put his hand around his bare neck?” The teen’s father was pronounced dead after being taken to a hospital on Staten Island.
The policeman who put the man in a chokehold and another NYPD cop have been taken off the streets as authorities continue to investigate the fatal incident. According to the spokesman for the Fire Department New York, four Emergency Medical Technicians from Richmond University Medical Center have been given modified duties and prohibited from going out on calls until the matter is resolved.
Four minutes after the beginning of the amateur video, it shows the arrival of the EMTs on the scene, none of whom attempted to resuscitate the downed man with either oxygen or CPR. The spokesman said that two of the four are employed with the basic life support unit, while the others are with the advanced life support unit.
The man’s son and his family are struggling to come to terms with the senselessness of their loved one’s death. His son revealed that the night before he died, his father had told him how proud he was that his boy would be the first in the family to attend college. He will attend Newark’s Essex County College this autumn semester on a scholarship from their basketball program.
Given the circumstances of the man’s death and the reaction of his family members, it is quite likely wrongful death litigation will be pursued against the NYPD and other agencies and individuals.
Source: New York Daily News, “Son of Eric Garner, who died after cop used illegal chokehold, says officer ‘should be in jail’” Tina Moore, Edgar Sandoval, Daniel Beekman, Jul. 20, 2014
